Announcements

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.

Conference: The 88th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Mycotoxicology
Date: 6 January 2023
Venue: Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

MDPI will be attending the 88th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Mycotoxicology as the exhibitor. This meeting will take place on 6 January 2023 in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

The 88th annual meeting is organized by the Japanese Society of Mycotoxicology (http://www.jsmyco.org). In addition to general lectures and poster presentations, there will be special lectures, symposiums, and luncheon seminars.

Special lecture: “Use of useful brewing bacteria such as aspergillus”
Symposium: “Challenge the elucidation of biological interactions”

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Toxins;
• Vaccines;
• JoF;
• JoX;
• Foods.

If you are planning to attend this conference, please feel free to stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions you may have. For more information about the conference and booth, please visit the following website: https://www.jsmyco.org/conference/top.html.

A range of MDPI journals will be attending the 15th Annual Meeting of Chinese Society for Immunology. This meeting will be held in Chongqing, China, from 27 to 30 December 2022.

The conference focuses on the following areas:

• Recognition and regulation of innate immune responses;
• Adaptive immune response;
• Immune metabolism and immune regulation;
• Immunity to COVID-19 infection;
• Tumor immunity and tumor immunotherapy;
• Autoimmune diseases and other topics.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• IJMS (leading journal);
• Vaccines;
• Metabolites;
• Cells;
• Cancers;
• Biomedicines;
• CIMB;
• Pathogens;
• Immuno.

If you plan on attending this conference, feel free to stop by our booth #B13. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference, please see the following link: https://csimeeting2022.sciconf.cn/cn/web/index/13562.  

Peer Review Week began 19 September 2022 under the theme of “Research Integrity: Creating and Supporting Trust in Research”. Through various blog articles, podcast, and webinar, we discussed this crucial subject throughout the week, celebrating the essential role peer review plays in maintaining research quality.

To begin, we held a Webinar on the topic. Professor Peter W. Choate and Dr. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi joined Dr. Ioana Craciun, one of MDPI’s scientific officers, for an in-depth discussion.

We invite you to view the event recording:

During the week, the MDPI Blog in a series articles highlighted how good Peer Review safeguards research integrity. The following topics were covered:

• Peer Review Week 2022
• Research Integrity
• What We’ve Learned About Peer Review Reports
• 4 Steps to the Perfect Peer Review Report
• How to Write the Perfect Peer Review Report: An Interview
• Inviting Great Peer Reviewers

In a new edition of Insight Faster, an MDPI podcast, we were delighted to talk to the co-chairs of the Peer Review Week committee, Jayashree Rajagopalan (Senior Manager of Global Community Engagement for CACTUS) and Danielle Padula (Head of Marketing and Community Development at Scholastica) to get their take on this year’s event and its related topics.

You can find the Podcast here.

We hope you enjoy the contents!

The winning article:
“Recent Progress on the Versatility of Virus-Like Particles”

by Ciying Qian, Xinlin Liu, Qin Xu, Zhiping Wang, Jie Chen, Tingting Li, Qingbing Zheng, Hai Yu, Ying Gu, Shaowei Li, and Ningshao Xia

Prof. Dr. Li Shaowei is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the College of Life Sciences/School of Public Health, Xiamen University, and head of the vaccine and structural biology group of the National Research Center for Infectious Disease Diagnostic Reagents and Vaccine Engineering Technology. He is mainly engaged in the research and development of genetically engineered vaccines and the application of structural vaccinology. He was selected as one of the “Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions” in the National Ten Thousand Talents Project, “New Century Excellent Talents Support Program” of the Ministry of Education, and served as a member of the World Health Organization Vaccine Product Development Advisory Committee (WHO-PDVAC). As a core researcher, he has developed the world's only hepatitis E vaccine (launched in 2012), the first domestic HPV vaccine (launched in 2019, certified by WHO PQ in 2021, and licensed in Morocco and Nepal in 2022), a hepatitis E vaccine A series of diagnostic reagents, China's third and fourth generation AIDS diagnostic reagents, etc. He has won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize of the National Technology Invention Award, the China Patent Gold Award, the Qiushi Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Group Award, the China Association for Science and Technology Qiushi Outstanding Youth Achievement Transformation Award, the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association-Sanofi Youth Biological Drug Award, etc. He has published more than 100 SCI papers in journals such as Cell, Host and Microbe, Nature Microbiology, and Nature Communication; obtained 29 invention patents, and was selected as the 2016 annual award winner in Nature Biotechnology. He is the first scholar from mainland China to be in the TOP 20 of Global Translational Research. 

The following is an interview with Prof. Dr. Li Shaowei and his team: 

1. What has been your main research focus in recent years? 

I mainly study the research and development of genetically engineered vaccines. Currently, I pay more attention to structural vaccinology, using structural methods to design new vaccines, as well as research vaccine adjuvants, corresponding preparations, etc. I also regularly go to the clinic. 

We have developed two relatively successful vaccines: one is the world's only hepatitis E vaccine (Yikening), which was launched in China in 2012, and was funded by the Norwegian government to carry out the first overseas vaccination in Bangladesh in 2019. We completed the Phase I clinical trial in the United States in 2021. This is the first Chinese vaccine to conduct clinical trials in the United States. It received marketing authorization from Pakistan in 2021. In 2022, MSF will apply our hepatitis E vaccine to South Sudan for mass vaccination in response to local hepatitis E outbreaks. Another vaccine, the first domestic HPV vaccine (Xinkening), was launched in 2019, certified by WHO PQ in 2021, and licensed in Morocco and Nepal in 2022. 

Our vaccine uses the E. coli prokaryotic expression system. Many vaccines are derived from eukaryotic expression systems. For example, the viral antigens that infect humans are proteins expressed by human cells, which are generally considered difficult to imitate with bacterial expression systems. We have achieved industrial production with bacterial methods, which are more efficient than eukaryotic cells, and have great advantages in terms of production cost, process and yield. Our first hepatitis E vaccine was made using Escherichia coli. Based on such an expression system structure, we further developed an HPV vaccine (bivalent). This HPV vaccine represents my country's scientific research strengths, making my country the third in the world to provide an HPV vaccine after the United States and the United Kingdom. 

2. How was your experience submitting to MDPI? 

Compared to other journals, I think MDPI is very fast in terms of processing and editor responsiveness. Additionally, in terms of our team's submission experience, the review comments received were also of very high quality. There are at least 2–3 reviewers each time, and the reviewers ask many high-level questions. I think the more questions the reviewers ask, the higher the quality of the article will be. It is worth mentioning that after the article is published, the journal will issue an electronic certificate to the author, which will give the author a sense of accomplishment. So the experience of contributing to MDPI is very good. 

Speed ​​is a big advantage because sometimes student submissions place a lot of emphasis on the publication cycle. Additionally, some time-sensitive articles, such as those related to the new crown, will hopefully be published as soon as possible. 

3. What do you think of the influence/reputation of Vaccines in China? 

From the perspective of our vaccinology, we do not actually pay much attention to which journal is good and which journal is bad. Except for CNS journals, which are recognized as good, everyone else chooses journals for submission based on their work content. You publish a lot of articles every year, and the citation rate is very high, so the influence is very large. The advantage of fast publication of OA is that the article can be quickly and easily read by scholars in the same field, which is equivalent to the faster and wider dissemination of the article, which further increases the number of citations of the article. Therefore, the vaccine circle still recognizes Vaccines. 

4. Your team's review won the Vaccines 2022 Best Paper Award. How do you and your team feel about that? 

Qian Ziying: I am very fortunate that the first article I wrote was recognized by the journal. I am also very grateful to Vaccines for the sense of ceremony and achievement from the publication of the paper to the selection of excellent papers. I hope we can create more scientific research stories and allow everyone to share them! 

Liu Xinlin: It is an honor for the article to win the award, and I am very grateful to Vaccines for the recognition and encouragement of our article. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, I hope Vaccines will continue to develop and become better and better! 

5. On the 10th anniversary of Vaccines, what would you like to say about the journal? 

For researchers, academic journals are an important platform for academic exchanges. Therefore, I hope that Vaccines can serve as a platform for publishing articles in core fields, providing more opportunities for communication. After ten years of sharpening a sword, I also hope that Vaccines will show greater improvement in the next decade, presenting more high-quality articles to everyone, and that it will continue to attract scholars to gather, organize Special Issues or other opportunities, to promote academic or scientific development. I hope the journal will play a bigger and more important role in this field.

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the Special Issue Mentor Program. 

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills, working closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists with novel ideas for new Vaccines Special Issues will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist. This mentor could be a member of the Editorial Board of Vaccines (ISSN: 2072-4292), be affiliated with other well-established research institutes or laboratories, etc. 

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Providing a CV, including a list of publications;
• Proposing a Special Issue title and a short introduction;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue;
• Reviewing and making submission decisions under the mentorship of our Editorial Board Members. 

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Co-editing the Special Issue with younger scholars and performing quality control of the publications in the Special Issue;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing regular video calls with young scholars and the office to discuss any problems and suggestions for improvement of the Special Issue. 

Certificates and awards:

Once the Special Issue is closed, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors. The younger scholars will be prioritized as candidates for Vaccines Young Investigator Awards in future editions. 

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Vaccines Editorial Office (vaccines@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. 

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Vaccines will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics as usual. 

Vaccines Editorial Office

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize winners for the year 2021 in the “Biology & Life Sciences” category for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with an Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners on their achievement.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Biology:

• Enrico Vito Perrino, CIHEAM, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Italy
• Dhirendra Kumar, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, USA
• Carlos A. Viegas, Univesity of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Yuri Shavrukov, Flinders University, Australia
• Bipin Gaihre, Mayo Clinic, USA

Brain Sciences:

• Craig D. Workman, University of Iowa, USA
• Vivian Ciaramitaro, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
• Yang Zhang, University of Minnesota, USA

Cells:

• Bonam Srinivasa Reddy, Université de Paris, France
• Homma Takujiro, Yamagata University, Japan
• Hwang, In Koo, Seoul National University, South Korea
• Kobeissy Firas, University of Florida, USA
• Rebelo, Sandra, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Diversity:

• Günter Gollmann, University of Vienna, Austria
• Stephan Koblmüller, University of Graz, Austria
• Emiliano Mori, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Italy

Horticulturae:

• Joshua D. Klein, Agricultural Research Organization—The Volcani Center, Israel
• Ana Cristina S Figueiredo, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Insects:

• Carmelo Peter Bonsignore, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy
• Klaus H. Hoffmann, University of Bayreuth, Germany
• Ivan Milosavljević, University of California, USA

Metabolites:

• Remigiusz Bachor, University of Wrocław, Poland
• Nguyen Phuoc Long, Inje University College of Medicine, South Korea
• Chi Chen, University of Minnesota, USA

Nutrients:

• Jadwiga Hamułka, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland
• Grace Campbell, University of Sydney, Australia
• Nicholas Norwitz, Harvard Medical School, USA
• Stefan Kabisch, Charité University Hospital Berlin, Germany
• Luis Rodrigo, University of Oviedo, Spain

Veterinary Sciences:

• Carlos Viegas, Univesity of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Arvind Sharma, The University of Queensland, Australia

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the 2021 winners in the “Biology & Life Sciences” category. The winners were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded young investigators for their outstanding contributions.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Agriculture:

• Carlos Guzmán, University of Cordoba, Spain

Animals:

• Katharina Hohlbaum, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Cells:

• Uri Ben-David, Tel Aviv University, Israel

Diversity:

• Enrico Lunghi, Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China

Foods:

• Guodong Zhang, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

Horticulturae:

• Luke Bell, Temperate Horticulture, University of Reading, UK

International Journal of Molecular Sciences:

• Alessandro D’Urso, University of Catania, Italy.
• Apostolos Zaravinos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Maria Teresa Caccamo, Messina University, Italy
• Tiziana Bonifacino, University of Genoa, Italy

Journal of Fungi:

• Federico Baltar, University of Vienna, Austria
• Rebecca Drummond, University of Birmingham, UK
• Miriam Oses-Ruiz, Public University of Navarre, Spain

Life:

• João Pedro da Silva Machado Lobo, University of Porto, Portugal
• Vincenzo Russo, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy

Metabolites:

• Gabriele Rocchetti, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Italy

Nutrients:

• Fiona Lavelle, Queen's University Belfast, UK
• Matthew Snelson, Monash University, Australia

Pathogens:

• Si Ming Man, Australian National University, Australia
• Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan, University of Hong Kong, China

Plants:

• Stefania Sut, University of Padova, Italy
• Mohamed Ahmed El-Esawi, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

Vaccines:

• Nicholas M. Provine, University of Oxford, UK

Viruses:

• Nicholas S. Heaton, Duke University, USA